Maximilian Günther converted pole position into victory in the inaugural Jeddah E-Prix today (14 February), grabbing the bull by the horns to dramatically snatch the lead almost within sight of the finish line on an historic day for the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship.

For the majority of the 31-lap contest, honours looked to be going the way of Mexico City winner Oliver Rowland, who got the better of defending champion Pascal Wehrlein (TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team) on the opening tour and subsequently relieved Günther of the lead at one-third distance.

From there on in, the Nissan Formula E Team star seemed to be comfortably in charge as he pulled away to the tune of almost five seconds. He maintained his advantage through the mid-race Pit Boost sequence, as all drivers made a mandatory 30-second pit-stop for a 10% energy boost (3.85kWh) via a 600kW booster – an innovation appearing for the first time in the all-electric single-seater series.

Günther, conversely, lost out in that phase, slipping from second to eighth, but the German was in no mood to lie down without a fight. In just his third outing for DS Penske, the 27-year-old knew he still had a trump card to play, with two Attack Modes remaining while some of his immediate rivals had only one. He deployed them to perfection.

In tandem with Season 7 champion Nyck de Vries, Günther began scything through the pack, going on to displace the Mahindra Racing driver around the outside at Turn 8 in the closing stages before hunting down Rowland for the lead.

Even with the pair both in Attack Mode as the E-Prix neared its end, the DS Penske man kept narrowing the gap, posting a blistering new fastest lap in his efforts to turn up the wick. Running nose-to-tail as the chequered flag waited and with Rowland struggling for energy, Günther seized his chance and swept by on the run towards the final chicane, in so doing becoming the first driver to win from pole in Formula E since the start of Season 10.

The result also represented DS Penske’s first triumph in more than two years, and glory for a third different manufacturer in as many rounds in 2024-25, while for Rowland, the runner-up spoils propelled the Briton past Porsche’s António Félix da Costa to the summit of the title table.

The duel for victory very nearly turned into a three-way tussle as Rowland defended and Günther attacked, enabling Taylor Barnard to latch onto their heels in the last laps. The youngest driver in the field, the NEOM McLaren Formula E Team teenager was a factor throughout, impressively fighting past countryman Jake Hughes (Maserati MSG Racing) and de Vries to secure a second rostrum result in three races.

De Vries wound up fourth on another strong day for Mahindra – building upon the team’s five-six finish from the São Paulo curtain-raiser – with stablemate Edoardo Mortara charging up the order from the back of the grid to seventh at the flag. In-between them, Hughes took fifth with two-time champion Jean-Éric Vergne sixth in the second DS Penske car.

McLaren’s Sam Bird recovered from an opening lap spin to battle back to eighth, with ninth for da Costa seeing the Season 6 title-holder surrender his advantage in the Drivers’ standings to Rowland. Stoffel Vandoorne snared the final point on offer in tenth for Maserati, but Jaguar TCS Racing endured another double failure to score, as Nick Cassidy could fare no better than 11th and Mitch Evans 20th – the latter getting caught up in two collisions that prompted an unscheduled pit visit for repairs and a time penalty.

The first of those coming-togethers also ruined the race of another title protagonist, leaving Wehrlein with a right-rear puncture and dropping the German – a front row starter – out of contention.

Formula E’s Middle Eastern action continues tomorrow (Saturday, 14 February), with round four of the campaign getting underway at 20:05 local time (18:05 CET).

Maximilian Guenther, No.7, DS Penske, said:

“This means everything to me. It’s the first win with my new team, DS Penske. It was a lot of hard work, a big race but an amazing outcome for us. We lost quite a few places around the pit stop window, but we just stayed calm and did our race. I didn’t expect to come back all the way. I thought a podium would have been good, but to do it in the end and to win it is an extra special feeling. I didn’t want to leave it until the last corner but there was no other option - Oli was doing a mega job today, a great race. I believed until the end!”

Oliver Rowland, No.22, Nissan Formula E Team, said:

“We had a plan before the race and we executed it pretty well. I’m a little bit disappointed because when I had such a gap, if I’d under consumed a bit I’d have had enough energy to defend from Max [GUENTHER]. He caught me napping a little bit and I couldn’t do much in the last corner. Nevertheless we scored some great points and on to tomorrow.”

Taylor Barnard, No.5, NEOM McLaren Formula E Team, said:

“Starting from P4 a podium was always my hope, but you never know how the race is going to play out. It was the first PIT BOOST race as well, so to know that we’ve done the procedure that well as a team, I couldn’t be happier to be P3.”